Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski, who is facing corruption charges, walks from the federal courthouse in Philadelphia after a pretrial hearing, Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2017. Pawlowski has denied accusations that he accepted more than $150,000 in campaign contributions in exchange for city contracts. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

(Allentown) -- The Democratic mayor of Pennsylvania's third-largest city defended himself Wednesday against accusations that he sold his office to campaign donors, telling a jury that while he asked business executives for political money, he didn't promise them city contracts in return.

Taking the witness stand at his federal corruption trial, Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski denied the government's allegation that he rigged bids to favor law firms and businesses that supported his unsuccessful runs for governor and U.S. Senate.

"I don't do pay-to-play," he said.

Pawlowski, 51, who began a fourth term last month, faces multiple charges, including fraud, bribery, attempted extortion and lying to the FBI. The most serious charges carry a maximum prison term of 20 years each.

The mayor testified about a contract for delinquent tax collection that went to Northeast Revenue, a firm whose executives had given money to his 2014 gubernatorial campaign. Pawlowski insisted he had little involvement in the contract, saying his only goal was to improve the city's bottom line.

"Honestly, I could care less. I wanted a better product," he said.

Allentown's former finance director, who pleaded guilty in the case, testified earlier in the trial that Pawlowski pressured city officials to give the contract to Northeast, and prosecutors said the bidding process was subsequently rigged. The company's executives have not been charged with wrongdoing.

Prosecutors also have the mayor on tape. Pawlowsk's former political consultants, Mike Fleck and Sam Ruchlewicz, cooperated with the government and secretly recorded conversations with the mayor.

In one tape heard by the jury, Pawlowski told Fleck, his campaign manager, to tell Northeast executives to "start being helpful, like really helpful." In a separate conversation with Ruchlewicz, he threatened to yank Northeast's contract and give it back to the city's old vendor.

Pawlowski testified Wednesday that he was simply blowing off steam to a campaign aide, noting he was under intense pressure to hit fundraising targets set for him by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. He said Northeast had promised to organize a fundraiser for him in a part of the state where he lacked connections with big-dollar donors, but wasn't following through.

"Anybody who has to raise money, you get frustrated after a while," Pawlowski told the jury. But "expressing that to my campaign staff and telling it to a donor are two different things."

The defense also sought to use the government tapes to its advantage.

Pawlowski's lawyer played a June 2015 conversation in which the mayor -- unaware he was being recorded -- complained to Ruchlewicz about an engineering executive who'd been pressuring him for city work. The executive later pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery.

"He's got to bid on contracts. He's got to be reasonable. That's not the way we do business. I don't do business that way. I'm not a pay-to-play guy. And if that's the way he wants to do it, then screw him. Then I don't get anything from him. It is what it is," Pawlowski said on the tape.

An earlier story appears below.

(Allentown) -- The Democratic mayor of Pennsylvania's third-largest city is telling a jury that he was horrified when he learned one of his political consultants had guaranteed favorable treatment to a real estate developer who'd donated campaign cash.

Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski testified Wednesday at his federal corruption trial. Prosecutors say Pawlowski traded city contracts for campaign contributions to his failed runs for governor and U.S. Senate. The mayor denies wrongdoing.

Pawlowski's political consultant, Sam Ruchlewicz, cooperated with the government and secretly recorded conversations with the mayor.

Pawlowski said Wednesday that Ruchlewicz acted without his knowledge in his dealings with the developer. He says Ruchlewicz was "out there doing stuff that wasn't right, that wasn't proper, that didn't reflect who I was."

Ruchlewicz has not been charged with a crime.

An earlier story appears below.

(Allentown) -- The Democratic mayor of Pennsylvania's third-largest city defended himself Wednesday against accusations that he sold his office to campaign donors, telling a jury that while he asked business executives for political money, he didn't promise them city contracts in return.

Taking the witness stand at his federal corruption trial, Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski denied the government's allegation that he rigged bids to favor law firms and businesses that supported his unsuccessful runs for governor and U.S. Senate.

"I don't do pay-to-play," he said.

Pawlowski, 51, who began a fourth term last month, faces multiple charges, including fraud, bribery, attempted extortion and lying to the FBI. The most serious charges carry a maximum prison term of 20 years each.

The mayor testified about a contract for delinquent tax collection that went to Northeast Revenue, a firm whose executives had given money to his gubernatorial campaign. Pawlowski insisted he had little involvement in the contract, saying his only goal was to improve the city's bottom line.

"Honestly, I could care less. I wanted a better product," he said.

Allentown's former finance director, who pleaded guilty in the case, testified earlier in the trial that Pawlowski pressured city officials to give the contract to Northeast, and prosecutors say the bidding process was subsequently rigged. The company's executives have not been charged with wrongdoing.

Prosecutors also have the mayor on tape. Pawlowsk's former political consultants, Mike Fleck and Sam Ruchlewicz, cooperated with the government and secretly recorded conversations with the mayor.

In one tape heard by the jury, he told Fleck, his campaign manager, to tell Northeast executives to "start being helpful, like really helpful." In a separate conversation with Ruchlewicz, he threatened to yank Northeast's contract and give it back to the city's old vendor.

Pawlowski testified Wednesday that he was simply blowing off steam to a campaign aide, noting he was under intense pressure to hit fundraising targets set for him by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. He said Northeast had promised to organize a fundraiser for him in a part of the state where he lacked connections with big-dollar donors, but wasn't following through.

"Anybody who has to raise money, you get frustrated after a while," Pawlowski told the jury. But "expressing that to my campaign staff and telling it to a donor are two different things."

The defense also sought to use the government tapes to its advantage.

Pawlowski's lawyer played a June 2015 conversation in which the mayor -- unaware he was being recorded -- complained to Ruchlewicz about an engineering executive who'd been pressuring him for city work. The executive later pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery.

"He's got to bid on contracts. He's got to be reasonable. That's not the way we do business. I don't do business that way. I'm not a pay-to-play guy. And if that's the way he wants to do it, then screw him. Then I don't get anything from him. It is what it is," Pawlowski said on the tape.

An earlier story appears below.

(Allentown) -- The mayor of Pennsylvania's third-largest city is defending himself against accusations that he sold his office to campaign donors.

Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski took the witness stand Wednesday in his federal corruption trial. He's telling a jury that he entered public service to ``make a difference.''

The Democrat is battling dozens of counts of fraud, bribery, attempted extortion and lying to the FBI.

The most serious charges carry a maximum prison term of 20 years each. Prosecutors allege that Pawlowski rigged a series of contracts to go to law firms and businesses that supported his failed campaigns for governor and U.S. Senate.

The four-term mayor denies running a pay-to-play scheme. The trial is in its fifth week.

Photo by Ben Allen/witf

(Harrisburg) -- Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania said Wednesday that he will probably reintroduce legislation to expand background checks on gun purchases, his signature legislation that has failed at least twice in the Senate, but that it may require changes to pass.

Toomey said he has not discussed the bill with President Donald Trump, and said he will get a better sense of how many senators support it when the Republican-controlled chamber returns to session next week.

The bill never exceeded 54 votes, short of the 60 necessary, and Toomey said his highest priority is to see if he can increase its backers in the chamber.

"It might take some tweaks to the legislation and I would be open to that because I do think it is reasonable to require a background check on commercial gun sales," Toomey said during a news conference in the Pennsylvania Capitol.

It would require background checks for all gun purchases online and at gun shows. Currently, the checks are only required for transactions from licensed gun dealers.

While gun-rights groups and most Republicans opposed the bill, previous versions of it also carried provisions backed by gun-rights groups, but opposed by groups seeking tighter gun laws.

For Toomey, finding compromise on gun control became something of a signature issue in his first term.

The bill first emerged with backing from Toomey and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia following the 2012 slaying of 26 children and adults in Connecticut's Sandy Hook Elementary School. It failed then and at least one more time after that.

Toomey opposes broader restrictions, such as limits on magazine size and bans on certain kinds of semi-automatic rifles.

Toomey said he supports putting similar restrictions on sales of rapid-fire bump stocks that already are on fully automatic firearms. He also wants to increase the prosecution of people -- such as convicted felons -- who lie on a federal firearms background check application.

Toomey said he continued to support legislation that would not allow people on no-fly lists to buy guns. But a bill he introduced in 2016, as well as competing bills, failed to win passage in the Senate that year amid disagreements largely along party lines.

An earlier story appears below.

(Harrisburg) -- Republican U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania says he'll probably reintroduce legislation to expand background checks on gun purchases, but that it may require changes to do so.

Toomey said Wednesday he'll have a better sense next week of how many senators support it when the Senate returns to session.

The bill first emerged with backing from Toomey and Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia following the 2012 slaying of 26 children and adults in Connecticut's Sandy Hook Elementary School.

It failed then and at least one more time since.

The bill never exceeded 54 votes, short of the 60 necessary. It would require background checks for all gun purchases online and at gun shows.

(Harrisburg) -- Pennsylvania gambling regulators are invalidating an auction for the rights to a mini-casino after Las Vegas Sands Corp. submitted the highest bid.

The Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board said Wednesday hours after the auction that Las Vegas Sands had selected a site in northwestern Pennsylvania that intruded on the 15-mile buffer zone around the location picked by the winner of the previous auction earlier this month.

The gaming board says it will meet Thursday to consider the second bid for the license, submitted by suburban Philadelphia's Parx Casino, which is controlled by London-based businessman Watche Manoukian.

Las Vegas Sands had bid nearly $9.9 million and selected a site in Hempfield Township in northwestern Pennsylvania's Mercer County. Mount Airy Casino Resort's owners had picked a location in Lawrence County.

An earlier story appears below.

(HARRISBURG) -- The owner of Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem has won the rights to build a mini-casino on the other side of Pennsylvania.

The Morning Call of Allentown reports that Las Vegas Sands Corp. submitted a winning bid Wednesday of $9.9 million to build the casino within 15 miles of a point they picked in northwestern Pennsylvania's Mercer County, along the Ohio border.

They beat out one other bidder for the fourth license under last year's state law authorizing 10 new mini-casinos.

Each mini-casino can have 750 slot machines and license holders can pay another $2.5 million to operate 30 table games.

The first three licenses raised over $110 million. Bids are limited to the state's licensed casino owners, for now.

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Posted Episode 43: What does 'fair' even mean? to State House Sound Bitestag:www.witf.org,2018:/state-house-sound-bites//63.1167842018-02-16T21:53:45Z2018-02-17T00:40:45Z It's been almost a month since the Pennsylvania Supreme Court declared the commonwealth's 2011 congressional map an unconstitutional Republican gerrymander and ordered lawmakers to redraw it in time for the 2018 election. And as the February 19 deadline approaches...Joe Ulrichhttp://www.witf.org/mt/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=63&id=252

It's been almost a month since the Pennsylvania Supreme Court declared the commonwealth's 2011 congressional map an unconstitutional Republican gerrymander and ordered lawmakers to redraw it in time for the 2018 election.

And as the February 19 deadline approaches for the justices to select a replacement, the contentious saga might be coming to an end.

Or not.

Probably not.

Lawmakers ended up not being able to compromise on new districts, which led to House and Senate Republicans, House Democrats, Senate Democrats, Governor Tom Wolf, Lieutenant Governor Mike Stack, and others all submitting totally separate proposals to the court.

The court might pick one of those, or modify one to fit its (sort of vague) criteria for fairness. Or it might draw its own.

If that latter option happens, GOP leaders have promised to sue in federal court.

The PLS Reporter's Jason Gottesman stops by to discuss the various ways this might all play out, and to explain why everything about this case seems so frustratingly subjective.

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Posted Episode 42: Making it up as they go along to State House Sound Bitestag:www.witf.org,2018:/state-house-sound-bites//63.1166332018-02-09T22:40:59Z2018-02-09T23:18:43Z By the time you listen to this podcast, there's a good chance that things will look a bit different. All week, we've been waiting to see what the state legislature will do to respond to the state Supreme Court's...Joe Ulrichhttp://www.witf.org/mt/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=63&id=252

By the time you listen to this podcast, there's a good chance that things will look a bit different.

All week, we've been waiting to see what the state legislature will do to respond to the state Supreme Court's declaration that Pennsylvania's congressional maps are unconstitutional, and justices' subsequent order for lawmakers to redraw them by February 15.

The deadline for the General Assembly was even tighter; they had to submit new maps to Governor Tom Wolf by February 9 (the day we recorded this podcast).

As of the recording, we knew only that the legislature would not have time to vote on the new map, so its presiding officers--House Speaker Mike Turzai and Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati--planned to collaborate on their own maps and submit those to the governor, without a vote.

PennLive's Wallace McKelvey and Liz Navratil of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and Philly Inquirer join us to discuss all the potential outcomes, and the political, legal, and practical implications of this strange situation.

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Posted Episode 41: More fights about redistricting to State House Sound Bitestag:www.witf.org,2018:/state-house-sound-bites//63.1164932018-02-02T23:59:23Z2018-02-03T00:03:34Z Yes, this is the third podcast in a row that has focused on the fallout from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court declaring the state's congressional maps unconstitutional. And yes, we still have a lot more to say about it. This...Joe Ulrichhttp://www.witf.org/mt/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=63&id=252

Yes, this is the third podcast in a row that has focused on the fallout from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court declaring the state's congressional maps unconstitutional. And yes, we still have a lot more to say about it.

This week saw more volleys back and forth between legislative republicans and the court, and perhaps most importantly, resulted in the Senate GOP refusing to hand over documents the court ordered from them, arguing that the court is undermining the legislature's authority.

Perhaps it's obvious, but when one branch of government stops respecting the authority of another, it's possible there could be real harm done to that government's ability to function.

Capitolwire Bureau Chief and columnist Chris Comisac joins us to give a conservative perspective on what's going on, and helps pick through the implications and potential outcomes of this thorny situation.

Just a note, this podcast was recorded before we got word that the legislature is calling for Justice David Wecht to be disqualified (they're arguing he has previously expressed strong opinions about gerrymandering, which should mean he can't rule in this case). If you're interested in learning more about that, check WITF's news feed for more coverage.

(PHILADELPHIA) -- U.S. Rep. Bob Brady of Philadelphia won't seek another term in Congress, giving up the seat he's held for two decades.

Brady and his lawyer revealed the news to reporters and Democratic

Party ward leaders in Philadelphia on Wednesday.

The 72-year-old Brady was facing a potentially stiff primary challenge from former city official Nina Ahmad.

His decision comes after the FBI investigated a payment his campaign made to a primary opponent in 2012.

Court documents made public in November showed the FBI believed Brady unlawfully concealed the $90,000 payment to get the primary opponent to quit the race.

Brady has denied any wrongdong.

Last month, a political consultant for Brady pleaded guilty to lying about the payment.

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Posted Mango, Wagner put millions in Pennsylvania gubernatorial run to Newstag:www.witf.org,2018:/news//76.1164122018-01-31T18:06:36Z2018-01-31T18:13:02Z Photo by (AP Photo/Matt Rourke) (HARRISBURG) -- Republican gubernatorial candidates Paul Mango and Scott Wagner are donating heavily to their campaigns, putting up millions of dollars for the right to challenge Pennsylvania's Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf in the November...Joe Ulrichhttp://www.witf.org/mt/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=76&id=252

Photo by (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

(HARRISBURG) -- Republican gubernatorial candidates Paul Mango and Scott Wagner are donating heavily to their campaigns, putting up millions of dollars for the right to challenge Pennsylvania's Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf in the November election.

Wednesday is the deadline for campaigns to report how they raised and spent money last year.

Mango, a former health care systems consultant, reports $5.5 million in the bank as of Dec. 31 after spending $2.9 million.

Mango gave himself $6.7 million and reported a $1 million loan from a private equity executive.

Wagner, a York County state senator and founder of waste hauler PennWaste, reports $5.9 million in the bank after spending almost $3 million.

He's given himself more than $7 million in loans and other contributions.

Wolf's reporting just over $11 million in cash.

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Posted State police seek donated horses for use in mounted patrols to Newstag:www.witf.org,2018:/news//76.1164112018-01-31T17:49:20Z2018-01-31T18:04:53Z (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar) (HERSHEY) -- The Pennsylvania State Police are asking for donated horses to join a Hershey-based mounted patrol unit. The agency on Wednesday issued a call for geldings between 5 and 15 years old. Officials say...Joe Ulrichhttp://www.witf.org/mt/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=76&id=252

(AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

(HERSHEY) -- The Pennsylvania State Police are asking for donated horses to join a Hershey-based mounted patrol unit.

The agency on Wednesday issued a call for geldings between 5 and 15 years old.

Officials say draft horses or draft-crosses are preferable.

The 26-horse unit performs searches, crowd control, security and patrols, as well as participates in parades and similar events.

Horses have to be at least 16 hands tall, which is 5 feet 4 inches at the shoulder, and can't be 18 hands or larger.

They must be able to be safely housed with others horses in a stable.

They'll undergo a veterinary exam and a 120-day trial to see if they're suitable.

Those interested in donating should contact Cpl. Carrie Neidigh, cneidigh@pa.gov.

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Posted Audit finds school bus drivers with criminal convictions to Newstag:www.witf.org,2018:/news//76.1163772018-01-30T17:46:43Z2018-01-30T17:55:53Z (HARRISBURG) -- A state audit says ineligible drivers have been allowed to get behind the wheel of Pennsylvania school buses, including five with disqualifying criminal convictions in a single district. The report Tuesday by the state auditor general's office...Joe Ulrichhttp://www.witf.org/mt/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=76&id=252

(HARRISBURG) -- A state audit says ineligible drivers have been allowed to get behind the wheel of Pennsylvania school buses, including five with disqualifying criminal convictions in a single district.

The report Tuesday by the state auditor general's office says 21 of 132 bus drivers in the Lancaster School District didn't meet employment standards.

It says five Lancaster drivers had criminal convictions that should have kept them from doing jobs that involve direct contact with kids.

Democratic Auditor General Eugene DePasquale says that in audits over the past five years, his agency also found five other drivers in three districts who weren't eligible because of convictions.

The school district says the bus company has since removed the ineligible drivers and the district has changed its oversight process for driver qualifications.

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Posted WITF Music: Nick DiSanto to Arts & Culturetag:www.witf.org,2018:/arts-culture//25.1163492018-01-29T15:15:04Z2018-02-01T17:05:47Z Nick DiSanto (Facebook, website) of Millersville plays a lot of instruments. All at once. "I like to have a bass drum and a snare drum played with my left and right feet. I like to have cymbals on there....Joe Ulrichhttp://www.witf.org/mt/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=25&id=252

Nick DiSanto (Facebook, website) of Millersville plays a lot of instruments. All at once.

"I like to have a bass drum and a snare drum played with my left and right feet. I like to have cymbals on there. I like to have a cowbell most of the time, some lung-powered percussion. And I always have the harmonica and the kazoo for doing solos."

He built this contraption which he carries on his back while he plays a guitar and sings. It's gone through multiple iterations. And what else would Nick DiSanto call this instrument but the...

"DiSantomophone. It's kinda like Air Force One: whatever contraption I'm playing is the DiSantomophone...I guess it started off as just one bass drum strapped to my back. And I would just play the guitar and stomp on the bass drum and sing songs out on the street. Just kind of half an engineering challenge that I embraced and half a way of trying to get back to playing my main instrument which is the drums, which I don't get a chance to play very often."

Nick's gone through multiple iterations of the DiSantomophone, learning a little bit each time about how to make it smaller and lighter. The current model weighs in at 30 pounds. In addition to music, Nick also does sculpture. Building his own instrument to play music on has kind of brought two aspects of is life together.

"The one-man-band building doesn't involve a whole lot of my actual sculpture education, but I think it gives me the same kind of feeling when I've been sawing things and drilling things and varnishing things. It just feels good to make something. I guess it's a different part of my brain that's at work when I'm doing that."

Nick describes his one-man-band music as Garage Vaudeville music. And along with originals, he also plays a number of older tunes. His gigs involve a lot of retirement homes and also some street performances. And he approaches his art a bit differently than a singer-songwriter would.

"The one-man-band in particular is a little bit different than any other music that I've done for people. Sometimes I'll play outside and I almost think of it as sort of a public kinetic sculpture going on. I try and invite a lot of participation. Sometimes I'll have shakers and things for other people to use. I guess it's much more other-oriented than other music I play. It's not always about even getting things off my chest or giving my message. It's about transforming space as a sculpture would in a square or something. So that's usually my focus when i'm playing, whether it's in a retirement home or just on a street corner or at a fair. I feel like I'm there to transform the space and take everything out of the commonplace."

Trying to catch Nick DiSanto in action isn't so easy it turns out.

"I try to promote it on my Facebook page and my website when I get these public shows. For now I tend to just announce what city I'm going to be in, when I'm playing out on the street, what city and what part of the city. I try and give people a couple days heads-up that I'm heading to that place. I'm almost like a food truck: I'm just posting what street I'm on and you have to sort of follow the noise and come find me."

If you're out and about and you hear any combination of bass, snare, kazoo, guitar and harmonica, you may be on the trail of the elusive DiSantomophone. And somewhere under all those instruments is Nick DiSanto making all that noise. Nick will be doing some public performances at Kitchen Kettle Village on March 9th and 16th and most Fridays through 2018. You can also catch him with a band called Lava Cave.

WITF Music is supported by:

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Posted Episode 40: Unconstitutional maps, uncertain future to State House Sound Bitestag:www.witf.org,2018:/state-house-sound-bites//63.1163162018-01-26T21:20:54Z2018-01-26T22:02:50Z Today's podcast was recorded live as an episode of Smart Talk, WITF's morning show. That means it's twice as long, and features listener calls and emails. It features Keystone Crossroads' Emily Previti and Marc Levy of the Associated Press,...Joe Ulrichhttp://www.witf.org/mt/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=63&id=252

Today's podcast was recorded live as an episode of Smart Talk, WITF's morning show. That means it's twice as long, and features listener calls and emails.

It features Keystone Crossroads' Emily Previti and Marc Levy of the Associated Press, who help us break down the biggest issue in Pennsylvania (and one of the biggest issues in the country) this week: the PA Supreme Court's decision to rule the commonwealth's congressional maps unconstitutional.

The ruling stunned many lawmakers, who now have just a few weeks to draw and pass totally new maps. A number of them have said they don't think they'll make the February 9th deadline, in which case the court says it will choose a new map.

A group of republicans has already filed with the US Supreme Court for a stay on the decision. And meanwhile, the state court still hasn't provided its full opinion, explaining why exactly the maps aren't constitutional.

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Posted Episode 39: Redistricting, races, and the return of the legislature to State House Sound Bitestag:www.witf.org,2018:/state-house-sound-bites//63.1161652018-01-19T23:49:20Z2018-01-19T23:54:57Z Lawmakers have been on vacation from Harrisburg for over a month, but next week they'll return to start off their 2018 session. Jason Gottesman of the PLS Reporter and City and State PA joins us to run down a...Joe Ulrichhttp://www.witf.org/mt/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=63&id=252

Lawmakers have been on vacation from Harrisburg for over a month, but next week they'll return to start off their 2018 session. Jason Gottesman of the PLS Reporter and City and State PA joins us to run down a list of their top priorities--from overhauling the tax code to shrinking the state House. But before we can talk too much about what's to come, we also have to note that a bunch of important things happened this week too. For one, the state Supreme Court heard and is now deliberating on a prominent gerrymandering case; if they rule the state's congressional maps unconstitutional, the legislature could be forced to totally redraw the lines in the coming weeks. Donald Trump also paid PA a visit in support of GOP congressional candidate and state representative Rick Saccone. Plus, Amazon put two Keystone State cities (Philadelphia and Pittsburgh) on a short list of possible locations for its highly sought-after second headquarters.

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Posted Episode 38: Farm Show fever to State House Sound Bitestag:www.witf.org,2018:/state-house-sound-bites//63.1159852018-01-12T20:11:24Z2018-01-12T21:10:08Z The Pennsylvania Farm Show is in full swing, and we had planned to do a very Farm Show-centric episode. But as someone probably once said, state politics operates on its own mystical schedule, so lots of other unexpected stuff...Joe Ulrichhttp://www.witf.org/mt/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=63&id=252

The Pennsylvania Farm Show is in full swing, and we had planned to do a very Farm Show-centric episode. But as someone probably once said, state politics operates on its own mystical schedule, so lots of other unexpected stuff happened this week as well.

Therefore, Philadelphia Daily News and Inquirer columnist John Baer and Paula Knudsen, a reporter for L&P's The Caucus, join us to discuss it all. We'll recap the governor's state of emergency declaration over the opioid epidemic, and break down a major federal court decision saying Pennsylvania's congressional maps are legal, despite their partisan qualities.

We'll also discuss some prominent lawmakers who may be running for higher office, Lieutenant Governor Mike Stack's contribution to the gerrymandering discussion, general palace intrigue, and yes, the Farm Show--including some of John Baer's best anecdotes from his many years accompanying politicians to the event.

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Posted Top Pennsylvania House Republican eyes run for Congress to Newstag:www.witf.org,2018:/news//76.1159602018-01-11T17:55:25Z2018-01-11T17:56:57Z Photo by The Associated Press (HARRISBURG) -- Pennsylvania's House Majority Leader Dave Reed says he's considering running for Congress to succeed U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster, who announced last week that he won't seek another term in the southwestern Pennsylvania...Joe Ulrichhttp://www.witf.org/mt/mt-cp.cgi?__mode=view&blog_id=76&id=252